1, 2, 3 food waste collection trial
The 1,2,3 food waste collection trial ran from May 2021 and ended in September 2022, following a decision by the Environment Committee to retain, for now, a district wide weekly rubbish collection without a separate food waste collection. We would like to thank everyone who took part in the trial.
From 1 October, trial participants have returned to a weekly refuse collection and fortnightly recycling collection. Weekly food waste collections will stop along with the Absorbent Hygiene Products collection from Medisort that included nappies for those who subscribed to this service. There will be no change to the service for people who subscribe to garden waste club and/or clinical waste collections.
The trial saw a significant amount of food waste being diverted from general rubbish and a significant increase in recycling rates. In addition, the trial has also provided valuable data for the future roll-out of separate weekly food waste collections across the county, which are highly likely to be mandated by Government in the next 18-24 months.
If you wish to retain your internal food waste caddie for use with home composting please do, otherwise we would ask that residents place their caddies out for collection once the trial has ended for collection on Tuesday 4 October.
You can keep the refuse bin and utilise it for your residual waste which will revert back to a weekly collection service at the end of the trial.
What happened in the trial?
On 19 May 2021 we began trialling weekly collections of food waste and absorbent hygiene products (AHP).
We selected around 1,150 households and flats for the first phase of the trial which began 19 May 2021 and was initially planned to run for one year.
From 21 September 2021 we extended the trial to include a further 250 properties in River Ward, to include a range of property types including flats, houses and Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs).
The aim is to reduce household rubbish, increase recycling and make Arun greener. The food and AHP waste we collect will be turned into fertilizer and sources of energy.
There was a 1, 2, 3 collection schedule:
- weekly collection of food waste and an optional weekly collection of AHP products
- two-weekly collection of recycling including small electrical items
- three-weekly collection of general rubbish
There was no change to your:
- collection day
- garden waste collections (if applicable)
- assisted collections (if applicable)
Households taking part received:
- a small silver caddy for your kitchen (size of a toaster) and 3 months’ supply of compostable liners
- a green lockable food waste bin for outside (size of a pedal bin)
- a 240L wheelie bin for your general rubbish
- 5 yellow and black striped sacks - if you take part in the AHP collection (once used these will be replaced)
- a collection calendar telling them what bins to put out and when